Current
Current is a music rhythm racing game designed by Blake Kallas, developed by NCS Roxx and published by NINE100 Studios. It is a spiritual spin-off of the Rock Heroes series, specifically Rock Heroes: Revolution, but with a new twist on standard rhythm gameplay and a strong focus on electronic music. The game is primarily about winning races, completing laps around courses and beating up to eleven opponents. Each race However, in races, your vehicle needs to be maintained, which is where heavy rhythm elements are incorporated. Throughout races, part of the player's vehicle will glow, and when a corresponding button is pressed, the camera zooms in on this part. Depending on the part, the player will have to press different buttons in time to the music, similar to other music rhythm games. While the car auto-drives during these segments, missing notes will cause it to slow and eventually come to a halt. Gameplay The first thing players will do when starting the game is creating their first vehicle and profile, although the initial customisation is limited. The first thing players will pick a base chassis, of which there are numerous. After that, depending on the chassis chosen, several more options will become available. Most chassis' will the player to pick a colour scheme and a thruster type/colour. However, some chassis' allow further alteration such as changing the shape of the cockpit. After this, player's can freely attach a number of decals and ornaments to their vehicle. While the base game only features generic decorations, the player can also unlock special decorations from different NCS games if they have played them, such as decals themed around In Decay or Warzone. Although the player starts out with only a few customisation options, they can purchase more with in-game currency as they play the game. Races are separated into events, each of which features three races and is themed around a particular genre. Every race has a different song tied to it, which cause the environment to pulse to the beat and play a significant role in the rhythm segments of racing. Racing is very fast paced and relies on quick reflexes, much like franchises such as Wipeout and F-Zero. Courses contain standard elements such as boost pads and branching courses which lead to shortcuts or secrets. Races always contain twelve racers including the player, whether playing single-player or online. Players can destroy other racers if they crash into them at a high enough speed. Points are given to racers depending on the place they came, with first place getting 12 points and every other racer getting one less than the racer in front of them, all the way down to 1 point for last place. The unique twist on the standard futuristic racing formula comes in the form of rhythm segments which the player must perform to keep at a high pace and be competitive. Throughout the race, different parts of the player's vehicle will glow and display a button prompt. When pressed, the camera zooms in on the glowing area and the car autodrives. When zoomed in, the player will perform a rhythm segment where the player has to press a number of buttons to the beat of the music. The amount of buttons and how long you do it for depend on what part you zoom in on. Missing notes will cause the player to slow down and eventually stop. Once enough notes are hit, the camera will zoom back out and, after a short delay to allow the player to get to grips with where they are, allow the player to continue racing. Harder events not only have harder-to-traverse courses, but much more difficult rhythm segments, with more complicated and much faster note patterns. The game features four difficulty levels: easy, medium, hard and ultra. Harder difficulty levels increase the performance of the AI, the speed of all vehicles and the difficulty of the rhythm segments. Ultra difficulty is only unlocked after completing every event, and is only for master players as it requires perfect performance. Events are unlocked sequentially, meaning the player has to play one event to unlock the next. Unlocking an event means all of it's races are available to play separately in quickplay. In quickplay, players can either play a single race for high scores or create a 'playlist' of races to play several in succession without having to return to the menu. Offline quickplay can be played with up to four players playing split-screen. Online play has a few different options. The first is playing Online Events, where the player can compete in an unlocked event online with up to eleven other players, including one local player playing split-screen. Players will compete identically to how they would compete against AI in the single-player mode. If a player quits during an event, they are replaced by an AI racer who plays approximately their skill level. Players can also compete in Quick Races, in which after every race each player puts in a vote for the next race they would like to play, and one is randomly selected from all the votes. Once a race has been played, it cannot be voted for again in the next three votes. Players can only vote for races they have unlocked but can play any race if it wins the vote, allowing them to get a taste of what's to come when playing events. Both online modes can also be played privately with parties of up to twelve players, with remaining spaces filled by AI racers of a difficultly level of the host's choosing. The player can also take an online party of up to four players into a public game. Events Current features ten events, each consisting of three races and generally representing a specific style or genre. Events are sorted by difficulty, and the player has to complete each event to unlock the next. When an event is unlocked, the three races are unlocked to play in quickplay to play immediately. #Chill Sounds #True Classics #Indie Feel #Cosmic Rave #Glitch Mob Special #Rock Box #Hip Hop Rhythm #Summer Run #Vicious Beats #Finale Setlist Current's setlist is primarily comprised of electronic music, although some events do feature other genres such as rock. In an interview, Blake Kallas said that the studio wanted to represent the very best of modern electronic music. Despite this, there is an event dedicated to older, pre-millennium tracks. Different electronic sub-genres are also represented, including house, dubstep and more. Artists with music featured in the game include Moby, Nicky Romero and The Glitch Mob, the last of which has a dedicated event featuring three of their songs. New events were made available every two weeks, each one consisting of three brand new races and songs. These events can be purchased with in-game currency, meaning that players do not need to pay any extra to access new content and simply have to play the game to get more races. The events were themed similarly to the ones in the base game, with a focus on modern electronic music but a few from different genres and eras. Development Prior to the conception of Current, NCS Roxx had released seven Rock Heroes games, including two as part of the Revolution sub-series. During development of Rock Heroes 6, the small team that made Rock Heroes: Revolution 2 wanted to work on another smaller downloadable title that explored both new music genres and new game genres. This new project eventually became Current, which combined the standard controller-based rhythm gameplay of Rock Heroes: Revolution with a fast-paced racing game similar to series' such as Wipeout and F-Zero. Another major change was a soundtrack consisting almost entirely of electronic music, a far cry from the heavier rock soundtracks of the Rock Heroes series. Uniquely for NCS Roxx, the game was developed in the Scar Engine, unlike all of the studio's other games which were build in their own Roxx Engine. The game was formally announced at the NCS Holiday Event 2017. Gameplay was revealed alongside ten of the songs featured in the game, as well as an announcement of an exclusive partnership with The Glitch Mob, with three of their songs being featured in the game. Four new songs were revealed every Friday following the holiday event, with the full setlist revealed on January 18th, 2018. Not long before release, NCS Roxx clarified their plans for future content, revealing a model vastly different to the one used for Rock Heroes DLC. Every two weeks, a new event would be made available, and instead of using real money to purchase it, the player is able to use in-game currency to purchase and download them. This free DLC model is supported by microtransactions that allow the player to purchase in-game currency. However, it was made clear that in-game currency could only be used to purchase cosmetic items and new events, and that the player would be given plenty of in-game currency when completing events. Pre-ordering the game on any platform rewarded the player with an exclusive Glitch Mob themed customization pack consisting of several vehicle parts, a set of decals and a unique player card. Category:900bv Category:NINE100 Studios Category:NCS Roxx Category:Current